BACTERIAL-COLONIZATION OF THE ORAL CAVITY OF THE BALB C MOUSE/

The acquisition of the human oral bacterial flora follows a relatively well known sequence of succession that can be influenced by various h ost factors. These factors have not been studied in the mouse. In the present work, we followed the bacterial colonization of the oral cavit y of mice from birth, and tested our mouse model for its suitability i n studying the influence of weaning and puberty on the indigenous oral bacterial flora. We observed that the first colonizers were staphyloc occi, followed hy lactobacilli. The proportions of these two predomina nt bacteria fluctuated for a period of 30-50 days, but evolved towards the proportions previously observed among the indigenous bacterial sp ecies of 6-8 week-old BALB/c male mice (predominantly Lactobacillus mu rinus and Staphylococcus aureus). The weaning period significantly alt ered the equilibrium among the oral bacterial flora. This equilibrium was not significantly modified during puberty.